Amaravati:
In a continued surge, Andhra Pradesh reported 758 fresh cases of COVID-19 in the 24 hours ending 9 am on Thursday, the highest in four months after the 1,031 on November 26.
The state’s caseload now moved up to 8,95,879 from 1.48 crore tests with an overall positivity rate of 6.02 per cent.
While the 1,031 cases in November came from 67,269 tests, the 758 turned out from 35,196 tests, indicating a higher positivity rate.
According to the latest bulletin, 231 patients recovered from the infection in 24 hours, pushing the total recoveries to 8,85,209.
The toll rose to 7,201 after four more fatalities were reported in the state, the bulletin said.
The number of active cases increased to 3,469, the highest since December 27 last.
“Yes…it appears so,” a top health official remarked, when asked if the state was seeing yet another surge in the COVID-19 contagion,going by therise in numbers in the last few days.
“We are focusing on areas where the spread of the infection is high and taking containment measures accordingly,” he said.
The official noted that the number of coronavirus cases being reported in schools was very less, contrary to perception.
“Wherever cases are detected, we are shutting down the schools for three days and conducting tests on all students and teachers. Only then we are allowing the schools to re-open,” he said.
Asked if there were any super-spreader events or bulk cases in a particular zone, a district Collector replied in the negative, adding the infection was essentially spreading through contacts.
Authorities identified residential junior colleges as one of the main sources of the infection spread in some districts and had, in fact, shutdown some of them after fresh cases sprang up.
In 24 hours, Chittoor district reported 175 new cases of coronavirus, the highest in a district in a day in over four months.
Guntur added 127, Visakhapatnam 98, Krishna 80, Anantapuramu 56, East Godavari 45, SPS Nellore 33, Prakasam 30, Kurnool and Srikakulam 27 new cases each.
Kadapa, Vizianagaram and West Godavari reported less than 25 cases each.
Chittoor reported two deaths and Visakhapatnam and Guntur one each in a day.
